Welcome to the lonely world of Joss Stone

Last updated at 10:59 22 March 2007

Backstage at the Brit Awards, Joss Stone is in full flow, tossing her frazzled pink mane to and fro as she holds forth about her 'amazing' new record.

Utterly oblivious to the lateness of the hour and the fact that this is her umpteenth interview, the 19-year-old shows no sign of tiring at the sound of her own voice and is clearly enjoying the attention of the two men who are hanging on her every word.

Then, after a rambling five-minute monologue (delivered in that peculiar highpitched transatlantic drawl which betrays nothing of her Devon roots), she finally looks down for a moment and stops mid-sentence.

Her 'interviewers', she suddenly realises, are holding walkie-talkies, not tape recorders. They are not journalists but a pair of security guards who were far too polite - and scared - to inform the singer of her folly.

Welcome to the random world of Joss Stone: teenage millionaire, self-confessed dope smoker and desperately lonely girl whose best friends are her mother, her dog and her hairdresser.

"It was absolutely hilarious and at the same time very sad," says a source who witnessed the Brits debacle.

"Joss had been running around making a fool of herself all night. Her bizarre psychedelic mini-dress, her hair, her ludicrous accent and her self-obsessed attitude were driving everyone mad.

"The last time I saw her that night was when she suddenly realised she was wittering on about her new album to the backstage security team.

"Anyone else would have been mortified, but Joss was so off her head I don't think it really registered with her. She just bumbled off looking for some other mug to talk to.

"It's a real shame, because she used to be this nice, down-to-earth girl from the West Country who just happened to have an amazing voice. But fame and money at such a young age can do funny things to people.

"I saw her running around at another awards ceremony shouting: "My hair's in my eyes! Somebody get my hair out of my eyes." The pampered celebrity world she lives in these days is almost surreal."

Unfortunately for Joss, such has been her success in recent years that few people dare to tell her when her behaviour is inappropriate.

She is, after all, an international star with a fortune of £6million and rising.

Yet the Mail understands that following a series of embarrassing episodes, executives from her record company are becoming increasingly concerned about her antics.

There is particular disquiet over the company she keeps, following her admission that she smokes dope and a chaotic appearance at a concert in London earlier this month.

"She has been told to take a long, hard look at the people she is hanging around with," says an industry insider.

"This has been building up for a long time, but her behaviour over the past few weeks has finally made some senior people sit up and take notice of what is going on."

So what exactly is going on with the girl formerly known as Joscelyn Stoker? Propelled to stardom as a 15-year-old Devon schoolgirl with a voice so soulful she was dubbed the "white Aretha Franklin", friends say that just four years on she is showing signs of having "lost her way".

Following her widely panned appearance at the Brits (critics described her as having transformed into "a diva with a ludicrous LA drawl"), she was booed by fans recently after turning up for a concert in London two-and-a-half hours late.

"She was acting like someone from another planet," says an audience member.

"Between songs she was rambling about absolutely nothing. It would have been funny if we hadn't paid so much money and waited so long for that dross."

Those who have known Joss since she was a little girl, however, find nothing amusing about the change in her. They fear Joss's head has been turned by the isolation of living alone in America at such a young age.

She has few genuine friends to lean on and has been left heartbroken by the collapse, just over a year ago, of her relationship with Beau Dozier, a record producer eight years her senior.

More worryingly, friends say that in the past year she has been smoking cannabis more often - a drug strongly linked to depression in young adults.

"Joss spent a large chunk of last year in Barbados recording her new album, and that is where she got quite into smoking dope," says a source close to the star. "She loved sitting on the beach at sunset, smoking weed and forgetting about how alone she feels.

"The split from Beau has hit her really hard. He was her best and pretty much only friend, and he loved her for who she is, not her fame or money.

"Now she just feels that the second guys twig how much money she's got, then they're only interested in her because of that.

"Likewise with friends. She doesn't have a big gang of girly friends like most teenagers. Instead, she spends a lot of time with her mum, who is probably her closest friend these days.

"That's a lovely thing for anyone to have, but what Joss really needs is a group of mates who will give her unbiased advice. She cuts a pretty lonely figure at times."

Indeed, Joss has taken to lamenting her lack of success with men in recent interviews. Recently she told an interviewer: "I'm really p***ed off with men right now. I don't think they can love me right.

"I'm going through a phase where I'm so depressed about blokes. It's a horrible thing being a young girl looking for love in all the wrong places. It's a waste of time."

Looking for love in all the wrong places? Is it any wonder that friends are worried?

Certainly Joss's life is a far cry from the cosy childhood she enjoyed while attending her local comprehensive school in Uffculme, Devon.

Her millionaire father, Richard Stoker, who made his fortune importing dried fruit, ensured that as a child she wanted for nothing.

Yet the fact that she left home at 15 to pursue her career, coupled with her parents' divorce (her mother Wendy, who travels the world with Joss, formally separated from Richard in 2004), has left its mark on the vulnerable young woman.

In recent months, Joss has been living in an apartment in New York, finishing off her album. Much of her time is spent partying with acquaintances from the music industry, but she has forged few close bonds.

"She's too American-sounding for the Brits and too British-sounding for the Americans," says an industry source.

"She's not hip enough to hang out with the hard-living British singers like Amy Winehouse or Lily Allen. Joss is a sweet girl but she finds it hard to connect with people, and is a bit lost."

Given the tender age at which she hit the big time, perhaps this is unsurprising. Old friends from her schooldays say that it is hardly her fault she is quirky given the 'unreal' life she has led.

Even her first serious relationship, with Beau Dozier, was characterised by controversy. She moved in with him in Los Angeles when she was just 17 and he was 25. The age of consent in California is 18.

Her representatives insist that, contrary to reports, she was not dropped from a lucrative deal to advertise Gap clothing as a result of the controversy.

Yet the fact that they were forced to issue a denial highlights the pressure that was on the relationship from day one.

Friends say, Beau was a steadying influence on Joss and she has struggled without his calm support.

"There is quite a lot of antagonism towards her from certain areas of the music industry," says a source. "It is perceived that she didn't earn her stripes and everything was handed to her on a plate.

"But the record company will defend her because she's what is known in the industry as a good "vehicle". She doesn't demand too much artistic control and is young enough to be very malleable. She will by and large do what she is told - and record company execs love that."

Recent events, however, are threatening to overshadow even her stellar career. At this month's controversial concert in London, her father and brother were thrown out of the venue for brawling.

It has emerged that another brother, 27-year-old Daniel Skillin, who shares the same mother as Joss, is a convicted armed robber who has been jailed in the past for a string of crimes.

More worrying, as far as her future is concerned, is the lukewarm reception her new album, Introducing Joss Stone, has received from the public.

Industry insiders are joking that the record should be renamed Exit Joss Stone because midweek sales figures suggest it will not even make the Top Ten of the album charts - a catastrophic return for an artist of her profile. (In 2005, Joss won Best Female and Best Urban Act at the Brits.)

To put this in context, Ben Mills, who came third in the most recent series of The X Factor, has sold nearly twice as many copies of his album.

Meanwhile, Mick Hucknall - who has released his latest album himself without the backing of a record company - also looks set to make the Top Ten ahead of her.

"It doesn't look promising for Joss, because she has a lot of money behind her, so these figures will not go unnoticed," says a record company source.

Nevertheless, having been warned about the 'undesirable' elements who have been following her around in recent months, friends say that Joss has taken heed and distanced herself from 'certain people'.

The name of her latest collaborator, therefore, will be of some interest: bad boy British rapper Dizzee Rascal.

"She came up to me at the Brit Awards," says 21-year-old Dizzee, "and she said: "I'd like to sing a hook on your record." The track is not what you'd expect. You don't always hear Joss Stone singing on a drum 'n' bass tune, do you?"

Joss's record company will surely have noted that in 2005 Dizzee Rascal spent time on police bail before being cleared of carrying an offensive weapon.

The driver of his car was also arrested for possession of pepper spray, an extendable truncheon, a knife and cannabis.

"Her judgment is all over the place at the moment," says a source close to Joss. "She will be 20 next month and it's about time she started growing up - fast."